IP tracking: the best tools to use for maximum effect

Many B2B marketing teams use IP tracking tools to gain additional data, boost website analytics and increase lead generation success. But there are so many different types of tool on offer, it’s easy to get confused. Whether you’re just staring out with IP tracking, or you’re keen to discover a fresh tool, you need to understand the different types of website visitor tracker on the market, so you can make the best decision for your business. Choosing the right tool doesn’t just boost your results, it also produces a comfortable return on your investment.

Types of IP address tracking tools

There are many different ways to track IP addresses, all offering different data and varying outcomes. Before we delve into the three key types of trackers, take a moment to think about your business.What do you want to use IP address tracking for? What is your ultimate goal? From here, you can understand what results you wish to gain, leading to the correct attribution of revenue gained, helping secure an ROI reflective of the tool you choose to use.

Once you’ve laid out this ground work- you’re ready to discover the IP tracking tools available to your team.

Basic IP trackers

IP address trackers range from the very simple, to the highly complex. Even the most basic IP tracking tools are still useful to many, taking an IP address and providing its approximate location and any other high-tier detail available such as address, domain name and time zone. These tools work very simply; the user enters the IP address they wish to gain data from, and the tool accesses public databases to gather any data pertaining to that IP address. This is a wonderfully fast method, providing a simple IP tracking solution for first time trackers. Tools offering this service include:

WilframAlpha: After entering the IP address into a search bar, this tool provides details including the type of IP (static/dynamic, public/private) and location of IP.

IP Lookup: This tool is focused on deciphering the location of an IP address, providing basic information about the IP location, along with a map and pin for fast understanding.

What is my IP?: A slightly different tool, allowing the user to track an IP address stemming from an email they received, learning the location and high-tier information pertaining to the sender.

IP tracker: Using the “Lookup IP address” button, users can quickly gain IP location and further server details including time zone, host-name and basic address.These tools provide answers quickly and are free to use– they don’t require any implementation, download or setup. However, they are, as our title highlights, basic in their offering.

You need to have already collected IP addresses to use these tools, and as the GDPR counts IPs as personal data(more on that here), the legalities surrounding their gathering is strict. The data gained from these tools is also restrictive; it may be enough for a small start-up business, but to manually check a high amount of IP addresses is incredibly time consuming– it would take your team a vast amount of time to generate enough data to fuel marketing efforts. Marketers looking for bulk data to have a heavy impact on their success, will need a more advanced tool…

Web analytics tools with IP tracking capabilities

A vast amount of IP trackers are incorporated into web analytics software. It makes sense- if you’re using a tool to measure the activity on your website, you may as well track your visitors too! Web analytics software provides deep insight into the amount of traffic your website sees, what pages are popular and how people were referred to your site. This helps B2B marketing teams improve their website for more effective brand engagement and improved conversion.

IP address tracking increases the data provided by web analytics tools, allowing the user to gain increased visitor insight into location and industry. This adds to the highly important analysis and reporting offered by these tools, empowering teams to run campaigns better suited to their audience’s needs with localized personalization. Tools offering this form of IP tracking include:

Google Analytics: One of the most popular tools used on 30-50 million websites worldwide. This tool offers a vast array of website metrics and uses IP tracking to produce large audience categorization including location and industry. This helps marketing teams decipher undiscovered trends and attribute reasoning to fluxes in website performance. Google Analytics doesn’t report any of the IP addresses tracked back to the user, it only extracts the useful data needed and presents it in useful reporting functions.

Hotjar: Another popular web analytics tool, Hotjar also tracks location of visiting businesses using their IP address. With a focus on optimizing website content to improve performance, Hotjar includes the data gathered from IP tracking in heatmaps and visitor recordings, helping teams improve website layout for increased conversion. Like Google Analytics, Hotjar doesn’t reveal the tracked IP addresses to the user, coding the latter half of the address with different numbers upon gathering to ensure only location data is drawn before the address is suppressed.

These tools offer your marketing team huge insight and advantage, the data gathered can be instrumental in campaign success. They also go the extra mile to remain complaint under data regulations, carefully handling and deleting IP addresses to keep users legally tracking. It’s no wonder they remain a hugely popular addition to your B2B marketing mix. Whilst these tools are useful, they are not the most advanced IP tracking tools available. The data they offer is insightful, but it could be better…

Reverse IP lookup tools

The most advanced IP tracking tools use reverse IP lookup (also known as DNS lookup) to provide the most insightful data available. This process queries the domain name server (DNS) of each IP address and gathers any data attached to it; this data is usually entered by the business who registered the IP address, and includes the business name and occasionally further contact details.

Gaining the names of businesses visiting your website provides your sales team with a literal list of leads for impactful follow-up. As they have already visited your website, you know they have an interest and need for what you offer. This doesn’t just improve your marketing efforts for lead generation but fuels your sales pipeline with high-quality new business opportunities. If you’re keen to use an advanced reverse IP lookup tool for your business, we would recommend the following:

Lead Forensics: This ground-breaking tool can identify the businesses visiting your website, offering an insightful profile for each visitor including their business name, address and phone number. Thanks to their extensive privately-owned database, Lead Forensics can also provide contact details for key decision makers alongside a breakdown of each website journey. So far, we have helped over 50,000 B2B professionals discover new business opportunities they would never have seen before. Find out more and book your free demo today!

Using these tools, your business will see IP tracking provide insightful new data, driving improved campaigns for sales pipeline success. Discover more about IP tracking with our beginner’s guide…